🌐 Global Roundup - July 1, 2024
A biweekly roundup of curated stories and opinions about ethical tech and innovation.
The U.S. surgeon general called for a warning label on social media platforms that says they may damage teens’ mental health. New York Times
The Atlantic's Nicholas Thompson talks about a new paper that shows there is a real tradeoff in doing reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF) for Large Language Models. All the benefits you get in safety are countered by what seems like a decline in creativity. LinkedIn | arXiv
A WIRED investigation shows that Perplexity, the AI-powered search startup Forbes has accused of stealing its content, is surreptitiously scraping—and making things up out of thin air. WIRED
Colorado has become the first state to enact a comprehensive law relating to the development and deployment of certain artificial intelligence (AI) systems. It adopts a risk-based approach to AI regulation that shares some similarities with the EU AI Act. Learn more about Colorado’s recent landmark AI act. Skadden
Meanwhile, Andreesen Horowitz General Partner Anjney Midha lays out his arguments against California's latest AI regulation proposals in this Q&A. a16z
For reference, here is the full text of California's Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act. CalMatters
AI dataset licensing companies have formed a trade group. The Dataset Providers Alliance (DPA) will advocate for "ethical data sourcing" in the training of AI systems, including rights for people depicted in datasets and the protection of content owners' intellectual property rights. Reuters
Microsoft runs afoul of EU antitrust rules, authorities say. The European Commission is concerned that Microsoft may have granted Teams a distribution advantage by not giving customers the choice whether or not to acquire access to Teams when they subscribe to their SaaS productivity application. Here are the details in context. CIO Dive
The Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) opens their responsible AI framework up for public comment for 60 days. Healthcare IT News | Coalition for Health AI | Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights
In the face of an increasing number of AI media deals, news guilds are now notching up the pace of negotiations to put in place AI protections similar to the ones Hollywood writing teams fought for. Journalists are asking, "What's in it for us?" TechCrunch
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to impose limits on the way President Joe Biden's administration may communicate with social media platforms, rejecting a challenge made on free speech grounds to how officials encouraged the removal of posts deemed misinformation, including about elections and COVID. The legal issue was whether the administration crossed the line from mere communication and persuasion to strong arming or coercing platforms - sometimes called "jawboning" - to unlawfully censor disfavored speech, as lower courts found. Reuters
AT&T wants the seven biggest and most profitable tech companies, namely Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, to help subsidize Internet and telephone access in the U.S. CEO John Stankey asks, 'Why Shouldn't They Participate?' Entrepreneur